10 Down, 42 to go!

Ten marathons in 10 weeks was a milestone in my mind. I believed (and still believe) that if I can make it 10 weeks, then only an injury can stop me (fingers are crossed on that one). It's quite a relief knowing that I have made it this far. In my mind, my fitness is clearly good enough to take this through the end of the year.

This morning was a very, very testing run. Its March. But its March in Kansas. That means it could either be 80 degrees or 10 degrees. This morning the weather opted for the 10 degree mark (actually, to be fair, it was 11 degrees). But luckily, there was little wind at 6 am when I started.

I began with 6 miles on my own, before meeting a fellow TNT'er who wanted to get a couple more miles in than the planned Saturday team training run. It was still dark, but very peaceful.

At about 7 am (6.3 miles in) I met Alan for a few more miles before our scheduled 7:50 TNT meeting time. We went about 5 miles. The sun came up, but so did the winds. By 7:45, the south wind was kicking at 10+mph, which kept the "feel" below 10 degrees.

At 10 minutes after 8, we started our TNT run. With the cold whether, and the number of layers everyone had on, we went very slow. Maybe 10:30's, with several 2-3 minute water breaks mixed in for the first 10 miles.

After 10 miles, most of the team was done, and we were back at our cars. A few wanted to go 15 miles, and since I had already gone 11.2, 15 would put me dead-on for my weekly marathon. Perfect.

The last 5 miles were pretty slow. But we finished. One of our team members went the farthest she had ever been. And with the cold temperatures, that was quite the accomplishment. For me, it was Marathon 10 down. While it didn't really feel like an "event," nonetheless it was 26.2 miles. 10 down, 42 to go.

Total time 4:43 and some change. Average heart rate for the entire run: 133.

I am feeling well. I don't feel much impact from today. Scheduled to do another tomorrow. Knowing that, I should have drank more. But with the cold whether, that was a challenge (water bottles actually froze over at one time, even though they were insulated water bottles).